


The Most Beautiful Sound

by PinkGerberDaisies



Series: Spectacular! Universe [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Broadway AU, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Prequel, Voice Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 12:36:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18549895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkGerberDaisies/pseuds/PinkGerberDaisies
Summary: Long before Tessa Virtue was on Broadway, she heard a recording of a young man singing a song, and it was the most beautiful sound she ever heard...A companion piece to “Spectacular! Spectacular!”





	The Most Beautiful Sound

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me in the middle of the night and I thought it might be a fun little surprise for Easter Sunday. Or, if you don't celebrate, just a fun surprise for a regular Sunday! 
> 
> Xoxo!

Tessa shivers and attempts to turn up the heat in her battered old Toyota Corolla again, but with little success. The air blows, but it’s far from warm, and she quickly shuts it off again. It had gone out somewhere around Hamilton and she’d had to pull over and put on her coat, hat, scarf, and gloves just to be able to continue the drive home from the University of Toronto without freezing to death.

It’s Easter Sunday, and even though she has a million things to do - tests to study for, notecards to make, and fifty new psychology terms to memorize, not to mention a new script for the play she’s auditioning to do during the summer break - Kate had demanded she at least drive home for Sunday dinner since the rest of her siblings would be in town, and Tessa had agreed.

The car splutters and Tessa cringes at the slightly-more-than scary clicking noise that happens every time she steps on the gas. She almost regrets not letting her dad buy her a new one when she got accepted into university, but he’d given her the choice between a slightly newer car and a MacBook, and she chose the laptop. After all, a laptop would be more sensible for doing her school work, and Toronto had plenty of public transportation options should anything happen. Now, however, she can see why he’d tried so hard to persuade her to choose the car.

She pulls off the highway and heads down the familiar streets towards her home, breathing a sigh of relief that it didn’t give out while she was going top speed, but just as she gets within a few blocks of the cul-de-sac where her parents are permanent fixtures, the check engine light turns on. It's a threatening shade of bright orange on the dashboard, and she barely has a chance to register its appearance before the engine dies.

The car rolls to a stop on the side of the road, and Tessa whacks the dashboard as hard as she can without injuring herself.

“Come on, Babs!” She pleads with the Toyota, using the name she’d picked out back when it still belonged to Kevin and she was going through a _Funny Girl_ phase. It’s certainly picked a fine time to rain on her parade. The engine refuses to turn over, instead making an awful grinding sound every time she twists the key in the ignition.

“Fine, you stupid hunk of metal, I’ll just walk!” She climbs out of the car and grabs her purse, kicking the tire for good measure before locking it up, even though somebody stealing the damn thing might be an act of mercy. At least then she could use the insurance money to buy something that actually runs.

The only bright side is that she doesn’t have to worry about her safety here. This is the neighborhood Tessa’s known her whole life, and she waves at the few people braving the cold as she heads towards her childhood home. Her parents bought the two-story white and tan brick house when Casey was still a kid, chosen because of its proximity to Hastings Park and good schools, and Tessa immediately feels like a teenager again the second it comes into view.

Her brothers’ cars are already parked outside, as is Jordan’s slightly-used Audi she’d bought when she was hired as a paralegal a few months ago, and Tessa’s spirits instantly lift at the prospect of seeing her whole family together again. It’s an event that’s becoming all too rare these days as they all get older and people start to get married.

“I’m home!” She drops her purse and useless keys on the buffet table by the door and kicks off her sneakers, then suddenly finds herself caught up in a massive hug – strands of blonde hair getting stuck in her cherry lip gloss.

“Oh, Tess, it’s so good to see you!”

“You saw me last month, Mom,” Tessa smiles and returns the hug, catching Jordan’s eye over Kate’s shoulder and rolling her eyes affectionately. Jordan mouths _favorite child_ and Tessa blushes. It might be true, but she knows it’s only because she’s the youngest and will always be considered the baby.

“I know, but I still miss you. How was the drive?”

Kate tugs Tessa’s arm through hers and leads her into the kitchen where every visible surface is covered in one dish or another in various stages of preparation for dinner. Delicious smells permeate the air and make her mouth water, and Tessa can see the dough for her mother’s famous hot cross buns resting on the counter, just waiting to be shaped and put in the oven.  

“Awful,” She answers with a groan, stealing a handful of raisins and tossing them into her mouth, “Babs is dead. She gave out down on Windermere road so I just left her there and walked.”

“I knew we should have gotten something more reliable.” Her dad pauses glazing the ham to give her a kiss on the cheek, his ever-present mustache tickling her skin. “How are you, Tess? School going well?”

“School is fine. Hard.”

Actually, only one of her classes is hard and it’s the business management one he’d forced her to sign up for. She loves her psychology courses, her drama and theatre classes, and the Pilates class she’d registered for just for fun, but her father had insisted she take at least one class each semester that was more “practical.” The subject is interesting, but it’s not where her heart truly lies.

“Hard is good. It builds character.” He goes back to his task, his words the definitive end of the matter like they always are. His opinion has always been the one that's final. “I’m sorry I missed your play last month – what was it again? Something about nothing?”

“ _Much Ado About Nothing_ ,” She reminds him, ignoring the way Jordan snorts at his apology and Kate sighs, “It’s Shakespeare, and that’s okay. I know you were busy.”

“Busy,” Jordan scoffs, earning glares from both Kate and Tessa, and she pretends to seal her lips shut with a zipper and throw away the key.

It’s a holiday, not a day for fighting, and Tessa would really prefer if they could get through a family dinner without someone getting upset at their father. He’s a lawyer and a busy man, of course he can’t be as present in their lives as other fathers are. She understands, even if it does sting every time she reserves a seat for him in the audience for one of her plays or musicals and he doesn’t show. She has her mother and Jordan, and even Kevin and Casey when they’re in town, and that’s plenty of support.

“You know, if you had a boyfriend he could have driven you here and then this wouldn’t have happened.” Kate starts shaping the dough into twelve balls, rolling them with a level of expertise that’s almost hypnotizing. Tessa’s always been envious of her mother’s skills in the kitchen, which seemed to have been passed onto Kevin and Casey (who, admittedly, mostly only use them for barbecued meat) and then stopped before reaching her daughters.

“Mom, I don’t need a boyfriend to save me from car trouble. I got here just fine.” She’s so tired of this same conversation. Every time she shows any romantic interest in a boy, even on stage, her mother pounces. It’s like she’s a relationship shark who can smell a potential love story from a hundred miles away.

“What about that nice boy who played Benedick? You had such lovely chemistry on stage.”

“Peter is gay, Mom, I told you that. Would you please stop trying to get me to date all of my co-stars?”

“But what else will Mom do with her spare time?” Jordan teases, grabbing another handful of raisins when Kate’s not looking and tipping some into Tessa’s open palm to share.

“Why can’t she pester you about your love life?”

“Because she knows there’s no room for love in the law,” Jordan states. It’s probably meant to be a joke, or, at least, Tessa hopes it is, but it feels rather pointed – probably because Jordan shoots daggers at their father’s back as she says it.

“Jordan,” Kate hisses, then schools her features into something softer with her own worried glance towards Jim, “I would ask, but you’re harder to open up than an oyster.”

“Awww, but there’s a pearl just waiting to be found inside,” Tessa grins, elbowing her sister in the ribs and trying to lighten the mood, and it seems to work. Jordan smiles at her, mouthing an apology, and some of the tension seeps out of their mom’s shoulders as she puts the buns in the bottom oven. Jim seems blissfully unaware of the whole exchange, even though he’s standing only a few feet away from them, but what else is new.

“Hey, sis!” Kevin and Casey come barreling in through the back door, disturbing the relative peace and quiet, with Casey’s wife Megan hot on their heels shaking her head. They’ve both got baseball mitts on and Casey’s tossing the ball high in the air, while Kevin holds his bloody nose and heads straight for the sink.

“Oh my god! What happened?” Kate looks positively horrified, but Tessa and Jordan both crack up laughing. Of course one of them would get injured today. _Of course_.

Once, when Jordan and Tessa were still children, Jordan had suggested duct-taping first aid kits to both boys' legs, and even fifteen years later – long after they should have grown out of this behavior - that still seems like a smart idea.

“Kev forgot how to catch, that’s what happened,” Casey explains, tossing the mitt and ball onto the neatly set dining table and then quickly snatching them back up when Kate glares at him.

“I did not. You’ve never known how to throw properly.”

“Back me up on this, Tess,” Casey bumps her shoulder with a mischievous grin, “Kev wouldn’t know a decent pitch if it hit him in the face. Oh, wait…”

“I don’t know,” Tessa quirks her head and taps her index finger against her chin, “He did play baseball in college, Case, and MLB scouts were trying to recruit him there for a while before he blew out his knee… the evidence is against you.”

“Is there anyone more loyal than a baby sister?” Kevin grins proudly, throwing his arm over her shoulders to pull her away from Casey and tucking her into his side, despite Tessa’s effort to keep him and his bloody face away from her.

“I resent that,” Jordan frowns, crossing her arms over her chest, “I just happen to think you’re _both_ idiots, and I don’t worship baseball like you three do.”

“Where did you go wrong, Jo?” Casey shakes his head and the three of them laugh at the way she scrunches up her nose in disdain.  

Jordan flips them the bird, jumping out of the way when Kate whips a kitchen towel at her, and leaves to join Megan in the living room. Probably so they can watch _What Not to Wear_ in peace. Normally Tessa would curl up on the couch with them and enjoy discussing which outfits they like and which they don’t (and dreaming about being given five thousand dollars to go on a shopping spree in New York City), but today she’d rather hang out with her brothers a bit more – as lovably crazy as they can be.

“So what are you going to do about the car, Tess?” Her dad asks after setting the timer on the top oven and leaving the ham to cook, “We can get a tow and take it to the mechanic here in the morning, if you want.”

“I was hoping you could handle that and someone could give me a ride back to Toronto tonight," Tessa says hopefully, biting her bottom lip when her dad only frowns. 

“I can’t make that drive. I have a deposition at eight o’clock tomorrow morning I need to prepare for.”

“That’s a four hour round trip, Tess," Kate pats her arm, her face an open apology, "I can’t do that tonight.”

“Meg’s taking the car to visit her parents tonight after dinner," Casey explains, and when Tessa turns to Kevin he's already shaking his head, much to the consternation of his little sister. 

“And I’ve got to drive to a business meeting in Chatham-Kent tomorrow.”

“What about Jordan?” Surely her sister will be heading back tonight, given that she lives in Toronto as well. They'd only decided not to drive together today because Jordan had Friday off of work and could come home earlier.

“She’s heading back tomorrow afternoon, I’m sure she could take you then.”

“Not until tomorrow!?”

“You can stay here." Kate grins at the prospect, clearly excited to have her youngest home for the night. "It’s not the end of the world. Your bedroom is exactly the same and you still have some clothes here that you didn't take to school, and you don’t have classes on Mondays.”

“But I left my computer in my dorm and I need it.”

“Why, do you have a test or something this week?” Casey tickles her in the ribs and Tessa squeaks and jumps out of his reach, earning a laugh from both brothers that she sticks her tongue out at. 

“Well, yes, there’s that, but also there’s a new Broadway cast recording coming out today and I really want to download it. I didn’t have time before I left this morning.”

“Are you _still_ on about that? Hasn’t college cured you of your unhealthy obsessions?” Kevin lets out an exaggerated groan and Casey rolls his eyes and Tessa glares at both of them.

“You came to my latest play just last week, Case," She points out, but Casey only innocently shrugs and grins unapologetically. They'd told her years ago that being their little sister meant they had unlimited rights to tease her, and they'd meant it.  

“So do it here, if it’s that important.” Her mother pulls more dough out of the fridge for sugar cookies and hands the rolling pin to Kevin, stepping aside and gesturing for him to begin smoothing it out and cutting it into shapes. 

Tessa sighs, resigned to her fate for the night, “I guess I can go download it onto Dad’s computer and then I’ll put it on my iPod and listen to it later.”

“When will this obsession ever end, Tess?” Kevin asks, laughing at her dramatics, “You can’t even make it through a holiday without listening to some soprano or another.”

“It’ll end about the same time you stop being obsessed with baseball.” Tessa shoots back, grabbing the ball off the counter and throwing it at him, yelling, "Think fast!" 

Thankfully, Kevin has quicker reflexes than Casey gave him credit for and he catches it before it can go smashing into the vase behind him. Otherwise there would have been hell to pay. As it is, her mother shoots daggers in her direction. 

“I didn’t hear you complaining every single time you watched a Blue Jays game with me, or when I told you I got tickets to the season opening game this week.”

“That’s because you imparted your addiction to me at a young age. I was helpless to resist. I was just an innocent child who wanted to fit in with her brothers.”

“Which is a good thing," Casey chimes in, "Since we only put up with your Broadway stuff because of your superior taste in sports teams.”

“Someday I’m going to be singing the national anthem at a Jays game, just you wait.” Tessa states confidently, tilting her chin up in defiance.

She has dreams. Sure, they're distant and probably unobtainable, but she has dreams all the same. She knows she wants to move to New York and be on Broadway, even if she hasn't told her family about her post-college plans to do that yet. And someday, if her dreams come true, she wants to be the one singing O Canada in the Rogers Centre. 

Casey grins and winks at her, “Yeah, Wednesday in the stands with us.”

“No, in the field as the special star performer. You’ll see!”

“I’m sure we will,” Kevin's smile is softer now, and encouraging, and Tessa relaxes and smiles back at him. As much as they drive her crazy, if she ever ends up starring in a Broadway production she knows her brothers will be there in the front row to support her. 

“What musical is it this time, Tess?” Kate asks, stealing the ball of cookie dough Casey had been about to eat right out of his hand and popping it into her own mouth instead with a wink, pinching her eldest son's cheek like he's a child again. 

“ _West Side Story_. It just opened on Broadway last month and I’ve heard good things about it.”

“Heard? Or read about on the Broadway message boards you live on?” 

Tessa punches Casey in the arm and he pretends to rub at the spot as if she'd actually hurt him. Not that it works - she doesn't feel guilty for giving him what he deserves for calling her out. Even if he's absolutely right.  

“Okay, fine, I’ve _read_. Apparently the guy who plays Tony is supposed to be amazing, although I’ve always been partial to Bernardo.”

“Who’s playing Anita?” Her mother's always been the one who encouraged her Broadway interests, and that's no different now. She's openly curious about the new production, and Tessa feeds off her excitement. 

“Karen Olivo. There’s already buzz that she’ll win a Tony for it, too.”

“Ooh! You’ll have to let me listen to it after you're finished tonight.”

Kevin and Casey start snapping their fingers at them, mimicking the iconic scene from the movie, and begin singing loudly and off-key, “When you’re a jet, you’re a jet all the way!”

“Oh, shut up,” Tessa rolls her eyes and shoves both their shoulders, “I’ll be right back.”

She runs into her dad’s office and pulls up iTunes, downloading the album and writing the cost down on a sticky note next to his monitor so he knows how much she owes him for it (he’ll ask later if she doesn’t). The first few notes of the sharp horns of the Prologue begin to play by accident when she bumps they keyboard, the finger snaps coming in right on cue, and Tessa almost jumps at the sudden noise emitting from the speakers.

It's so exciting, having a new musical to listen to, and even though she has to stop the music now, she can't wait to listen to it after dinner. She’s always had a soft spot for the music from _West Side Story_ , even though she’s heard all the stories about how Sondheim doesn’t care for it and actually kind of hates it, and although the story is pretty depressing (it’s Romeo and Juliet, of course it is), she can’t wait to hear the whole thing straight through. She only hopes it can measure up to the Oscar-winning original.

Dinner is a lively affair, complete with delicious food and desserts and happy, boisterous conversation, followed by an Easter egg hunt around the backyard that Kate demands they all participate in – even though they all grumble that they’re adults now and it’s silly. 

Tessa knows Kevin and Casey love it though, even at their age, and they get incredibly competitive about who will win and nearly end up knocking down Jordan in their haste to find the most eggs.

Afterwards, when everyone’s curled up on the couch eating their chocolate and watching _The Ten Commandments_ on TV, an annual tradition even though they’re not a particularly religious family, Tessa slips away upstairs to her bedroom.

It’s exactly the same as it was when she moved out – lilac walls, white bedspread with pale pink throw pillows, and fairy lights strung across the headboard. Fed on a steady diet of Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Rogers & Hammerstein, Sondheim, and, of course, Barbra Streisand and Julie Andrews, from a young age, her room reflects her obsession. The walls are plastered with Playbills and official production photos from all of her favorite shows and her signed copy of _Wicked_ sits in a frame on her desk.

She’d gotten it when her mom took her and Jordan on a trip to see the new musicalstarring Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth when she was fourteen. It had been the highlight of her young life and probably changed everything _for good_ , because it had cemented her desire to be in theatre and she’d come home demanding voice lessons. She still can't hear the overture without tearing up a little at the memory and the feelings of nostalgia it evokes. 

Grabbing her iPod Classic and digging out a pair of old headphones from her nightstand, Tessa flops backwards onto her bed and plugs in, spinning her thumb around the wheel until she finds the white album cover with its huge blocky red letters.

“You’re never alone, you’re never disconnected,” Tessa sings along right from the beginning, punching the air in time with the percussion, “You’re home with your own. When company’s expected, you’re well protected!” The guy playing Riff is no Russ Tamblyn in terms of his voice acting, but his singing voice is better so Tessa has no complaints so far.

The next song is _Something’s Coming_ and it’s the first test of this supposed genius who's playing Tony. She's a little afraid that he isn't going to live up to the expectations all the reviews had given her, but that fear quickly proves to be unfounded.

He’s a little tentative at first, which she assumes must be a character choice, but as he gets going with the song her eyelids flutter shut and she lets herself get lost in it. He _is_ very good, full of emotion to accompany his vocal talent, and goosebumps start to spread unexpectedly down her arms.

 

_It’s only just out of reach_

_Down the block_

_On a beach_

_Maybe tonight_

_Maybe tonight_

_Maybe tonight!_

He hits the last note and Tessa shudders and blinks her eyes open. Okay, so maybe he is a pretty good Tony, and she won’t deny that she felt something… the beginnings of something intense and maybe a little arousing… but as the blaring brass starts playing _Dance at the Gym_ the feeling fades and she settles further into the blankets.

She’s always had a weakness for good music and this is no different. Her reaction, while slightly unusual for her (okay, _unprecedented_ ), is nothing to write home about.

Tessa raises her arms and gently snaps her fingers, pretending she’s floating around the dance floor in Maria’s white dress towards the end of the song, and she whispers the lines with the characters as they meet for the first time. “I have not yet learned how to joke that way. I think now I never will.”

Will she ever get to hear herself on a Broadway recording? See her own name printed underneath a song title on her iPod? She hopes so. 

The next track is _Maria_ , and Tessa closes her eyes again and drops her arms so she can lay back and enjoy it.

 

_The most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard:_

_Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria..._

_All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word_

_Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria..._

_Maria, Maria..._

_Maria!_

 

His voice swells on the last Maria to accompany the music and Tessa’s body bursts in response. Goosebumps shooting across her skin, a tingling sensation flowing from her ears down her spine and out towards her fingertips and down to her toes, and, most embarrassing, she grows wet between her legs. A rush of heat that has her eyelids shooting open and her mouth gasping in surprise. 

 

_I’ve just met a girl named Maria_

_And suddenly that name_

_Will never be the same_

_To me_

_Maria!_

_I’ve just kissed a girl named Maria_

_And suddenly I’ve found_

_How wonderful a sound_

_Can be!_

 

Fuck. He isn’t kidding. Tessa never knew a sound could be so wonderful. That a single person’s voice could have such an effect on her body and soul. It’s like he’s touching something deep inside her she didn’t know was there, and now that it’s been unlocked she can’t get enough. She’s soaring, flying, swooping – reacting to every single note and shivering with every vibrato.

The emotions have to go somewhere, the sensations too strong to be contained in her small body, and Tessa slips her hand between her legs to provide some modicum of relief. Some sort of outlet to this feeling that she’s about to burst with each surge of the orchestra and his gorgeous tenor voice.

 

_Say it loud and there’s music playing_

_Say it soft and it’s almost like praying_

_Maria_

_I’ll never stop saying Maria!_

_The most beautiful sound I ever heard_

_Maria_

 

The music fades softly and Tessa doesn’t even hear the song switch over into the next one. She’s too stunned by what just happened.

There have been so many musicals in her life, so many artists she’s loved and listened to until the tapes got too worn out or the CDs were scratched, so many performances she considers the pinnacle of art and that have helped shape who she is both as a person and a performer, but this. _This_.

There are no words for this.

Tessa rolls over, ignoring the steady throbbing between her legs in favor of finding out as much as she can about this singer immediately. He’s still singing in her ears, the lyrics to _Tonight_  making her mouth go dry and almost distracting her and sending her into another daze again. She shakes her head, forcing herself not to succumb, and grabs her phone off the shelf and pulls up Google.

The album information says his name is Scott Moir, so she types that in and clicks on the first article about the play.

He’s twenty-one years old, originally from Ilderton, Ontario, and Tessa pauses reading to wonder briefly if he ever ventures south to London when he’s home and if there’s any possibility of her running into him in the grocery store or at the mall. Although knowing her luck, she’d probably literally run into him by accident and make a complete fool of herself.

He hasn’t been in anything else besides chorus parts in a few shows and a brief stint in the touring production of _Spring Awakening_ , which is almost painful to learn because she’d nearly gone to see that last year with some friends in Toronto and then decided to stay home and study instead. In hindsight though, given her reaction today, that was probably a good idea. 

 _West Side Story_ is clearly his breakout role and she feels a strange surge of excitement and pride for him. It’s obvious his career will be bright following this, there’s no way it couldn’t be. She can't wait to follow it with rapt attention.

His Equity picture is there, which is what she’d really been looking for, and it’s both exactly what she expected and what she hoped wouldn’t be true.

 _Oh, fuck_ , she moans, _he’s hot_.

It’s not fair! Not only does he have the literal perfect voice, he’s sexy, too. Fluffy dark brown hair, sharp features, and a jawline she wants to run her lips and teeth over. He kind of looks like a frat boy from her campus – the kind that are cute and funny and probably sweet on the inside under their cocky dude-bro exterior, and so good in bed you can’t bring yourself to care about the ways they drive you crazy.

There’s a production photo of him caressing the chin of the girl playing Maria, and Tessa’s breath hitches. She’s never wanted to be another actress so much before in her life. Does that girl know? Does she appreciate his gift? Tessa can’t even imagine standing that close to him while he sings about running away together and finding a place just for them, _someday, somewhere,_ let alone having to pretend to be in love with him.

(Somehow she knows it wouldn’t really be pretending.)

How does this girl, (Josefina Scaglione, according to the caption - lucky girl), survive night after night acting opposite him? Tessa’s pretty sure she would be a puddle of goo before the end of the first act. Her cheeks are flushed and her heart starts beating erratically just at the thought of it.

The album gets to _Somewhere_ , and Tessa’s struck by the image of being in a bed with him like in the movie, holding on tight to his chest, both of them half-dressed, and she has to bite her pillow and scrunch her eyes closed to banish the image before it can get too carried away.

It will never happen. She’ll never be on a stage with Scott Moir. He’ll never even know she exists. The most she can hope for is meeting him at a stage door someday. 

But in the privacy of her bedroom, she can imagine what it would be like. What it would feel like to have those eyes on her while he sings. The beautiful music they could create together.           

The album comes to a stop, the rest of it having passed by without Tessa even noticing, and she tosses her phone away and rolls onto her back like before, scrolling back through the track listing to find _Maria_. She has to listen to it again.

 

Just one more time.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Broadway West Side Story run details:  
> Located at the Palace Theatre  
> First Preview: Feb 23, 2009  
> Oening Date: Mar 19, 2009  
> Closing Date: Jan 02, 2011  
> OBC recording in this story was released on Sunday, April 12


End file.
